


My Love At First Sight, Your Gradual Love Toward Me

by Greyisles



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Amnesia, Elves, Fantasy Races, Fluff, Halfing, Humans, Orcs, Other, Romance, War, bones - Freeform, shop keeper - Freeform, somewhat slow burn, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23765056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greyisles/pseuds/Greyisles
Summary: Victoria Applebees was gathering herbs for her shop when she comes across a figure in the trees. She helps the person out, thinking they are from a war torn city that Lord Lathandra decimated as her army travels north and eastward. What Victoria doesn't know is that the person she helps will cause her to reevaluate the normalcy truly means in a world not truly black and white.
Relationships: Original Character/Original Female Character, Skeleton/Living Lady
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4
Collections: Let's Create Spring Madness 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FleetSparrow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FleetSparrow/gifts).



> This work is mostly about exploring romance in a fantasy setting with war in the background. This chapter is an introductory to the main female character, Victoria, and the normalcy of her life prior to meeting Wren, the skeleton with the heart of gold.
> 
> This is a multi-chapter work that I hope that I can explore Victoria and Wren's relationship and that it meets FleetSparrow's expectations. I enjoyed this prompt that they gave me because I got the excuse to write romance between two unexpected characters.

Victoria Applebees wipes her brow with the back of her hand. Today is too hot, and she had the windows open in the apothecary to circulate the air while she sweeps the floor. There is no one inside the shop besides her employee, Jules, who typically mans the storefront. Currently he is on his lunch break, which is why she isn’t in the back, creating salves, potions, and drying herbs.

She prepositions the vials, containers, and dried herbs on the shelves and hanging above, making them look aesthetically pleasing to the customers. Sometimes customers in Jenis do not like having items that would be beneficial to their health, but items that look good or expensive to show off their wealth. Typically, it is the nobility that passes through the town that turn their noses up at the apothecary due to the smell permeating the very wood of the establishment that’s been there for a decade and a half since she bought it.

Victoria chuckles under her breath, her family was not happy that she did not continue their family’s beekeeping business. While she loves raising bees, it was not her ideal profession. Beekeepers need to find an ideal patch of flowers to grow in the middle of nowhere and having to protect the area from anyone who wishes to harm her, the hives, or destroy the flower patch.

She isn’t the strongest of her halfling family, that was her older sister and second brother. Victoria always preferred to gather herbs and experimented on creating tinctures or teas when she was younger. In the beginning her family were sick to their stomachs before she figured out what those tinctures did to alleviate certain symptoms. Well, Miranda and Yoseph can protect the Applebees farm from other people and wildlife attacking the hives.

It was not a fun conversation Victoria had with her parents, but she had it. She apprenticed herself under Apothecarist Ignis, who lived in town of Belethorow ten miles away from her home in the middle of the woods. She saved up her money over the years and bought her little shop Victory’s Apothecary in Jenis, which is a week’s journey from Belethorow.

The town didn’t have a someone to sell healing remedies—nor poisons but she does not advertise that tidbit—when the town was starting up. Victoria was one of the lucky ones, securing a place in the market district that was still small. It’s grown over the years, slowly being populated by weary travelers, newlyweds specializing in a trade, and refugees bringing their crafts from their war torn towns.

The door opens and Victoria immediately pastes on a smile and says, “Welcome to Victory’s Apothecary how c-oh hello Jules, back so soon?”

The black-haired human teenager rubs the back of his head, “Only five minutes left for my break. Quite a generous lunch break for me, I was able to walk home for some stew.”

Victoria brushes the brown hair sticking to her forehead, “If only it was the same for me.”

“Ah yes, the humidity.” Jules rolls up his sleeve, “I am reminded that the shop is terrible for this weather.”

“Keep that attitude up and you’ll find yourself out of your job.”

Jules rolls his eyes. “Come on Vicky, you love me.” He grabs her boom and saunters behind the desk and places it by the wall.

Victoria rolls her eyes at the smug teen, “You will find your pay docked with that attitude.”

“Am I fired or am I not getting my hard-earned cash?” Jules inquires, wiggling his eyebrows.

Victoria really wants to smack Jules head, but that would be abuse and she knows the kid. He will whine to his parents, saying that the best apothecarist in town beat him, and he will paint bruises on his skin.

She’s seen him do it before. When Jules was just nine, he mashed some berries, borrowed her herbs, and used one of her brushes to paint it on. The kid is a skilled manipulator and actor, he should be an entertainer instead of learning her craft. Despite his craftiness, Jules is a trustworthy young man who would rather entertain people on the side while he’s working for her during the daytime.

It’s one of the reasons why he manages the storefront, he’d bring in his friends and trap them to buy one of her products. Jules learns from observing her work with her instruments when she brings them to the storefront when it is slow. The young man cannot just clean the front and be bored out of his mind, he might as well study her technique while he reads on his own time. On Tuesdays, her shop is closed, and she would bring Jules with her to either gather herbs or spend the whole day to create salves and potions. His attention would be devoted entirely to that as she takes on the one-on-one mentorship he needs to become a skilled apothecarist.

The teen is still learning various plants from a book and she quizzes him with bringing out herbs that he should be familiar with. The only difference with the herbs she brings out and the ones in the front of the store is that these are unlabeled and aren’t in their specified section of the shop. The quizzes are unexpected typically and it is a great way to learn. It provides her a benchmark to see if he memorized previous herbs. He will need to know the various uses and appearance of hundreds of herbs and roots to become a licensed apothecarist. Victoria hasn’t even taught him to create basic healing remedies that every self-respecting person in their profession should know before they branch out to create their specialties. It’s one of the required items for the country of Melony allowing them to have their license.

Victoria glances at her only employee, who taps his fingers against the counter. Poor thing is starting to perspire, and his brow is scrunched up in worry. “Why don’t you man the shop for about an hour? I will close shop afterward and we can focus on you learning about creating a simple herbal salve. That is,” Victoria winks, “if you pass your quiz.”

Jules perks up, and she sees that he’s biting the inside of his cheek to suppress his happiness and not mask his surprise. “Really? Well, if this means I can keep my job I’m fine.” He immediately acts disinterested and she chuckles.

“Try not to burn this place down okay.” Victoria says as she passes behind him to get her shawl, basket, gloves, and gardening tools.

“Like I would do that,” Jules scoffs, “I’m not one of those idiots who would knock down a candle.”

“I trust you not to act like Donnie.”

“Ugh Donnie. I swear his mom dropped him as a babe.”

Victoria frowns, disliking Jules' sentiment toward the gentle boy. “That still doesn’t give you a reason to hate him.”

“He burnt down two houses and part of the general store! I liked that place, now my favorite sesame seed buns are gone. You know Mr. Ozerandos specifically imports them from far away,” Jules whines, throwing his upper body on the counter as he takes up as much space as he humanly can.

Victoria just tuts at him as she moves to the front of the store. “He will order more once all of the repairs are finished. Donnie seems to have learnt his lesson about being aware of his surroundings.”

“It’s been two months, surely Ozerandos will be ordering some soon. They should have boarded the place up instead of those temporary wards there.” Jules dramatically states, his voice muffled from the wooden counter.

Victoria shakes her head at Jules’ obdurate fixation on his hatred for Donnie because he inadvertently prevented his favorite treat from being in stock. “Homes have a higher priority than a store. Ozerandos would have paid for builders to do it then a mage to write a temporary ward to prevent people from entering from the hole.”

“At least he has enough money to buy a mage’s services.”

Victoria just sighs and leaves her store. Sometimes she can’t stand her employee’s temperament. The weather must be exasperating his grumpy disposition for not having his favorite sweet.


	2. Chapter 2

Victoria sets her basket down to collect comfrey, yellow evening primrose, and echinacea. She puts on her gloves and takes out her gardening tools from her basket to properly acquire the life soothing ingredients. She is running dangerously low on comfrey flowers and leaves, which are an essential to creating burn salves and the poultice can promote healing from simple cuts. She has some primrose and echinacea back of her shop, but she gathers some outside the town. She isn't running dangerously low on those herbs like the comfrey. She has them planted in her garden, but she hasn't gotten the chance to transfer the wild comfrey into her garden yet. However, the thought always slips her mind.

Speaking about things about to slip her mind, Victoria plants a stick in the middle of the clearing that she is in, where the sunlight is not hindered by the canopy around her. She needs to be mindful about the time, so she doesn’t break her promise with Jules. The teen sure can throw a fit when he wants to, especially when his mood has been down the past few weeks.

Victoria harvests a few of the flower bulbs and the leaves, leaving some aside for the wild bees to repopulate the local fauna as they go from flower to flower. The tension in her body eases as she listens to the wildlife around her as she focuses on her task.

The halfling prefers being outside in nature, it could be attributed to yearning to somewhat be a hermit when she was living with her family, instead of hearing the bustling of people yelling, jeering, or just plain talking in Jenis. Lots of people, a few halflings like herself, elves, humans, and gnomes, live in there. Various ethnicities within the races as well is bound to have loud discourses due to culture differences, or just inane antics that are universal for children and teens.

Victoria loves her town, don’t get her wrong, but she can’t help but think about the talking of adults after Donnie partially set Ozerandos’ grocery ablaze before the new batch of tired fighters from the warfront arrived from fighting Lord Lanthandra’s monstrous army based in Ulthegarius.

As the months pass and it almost turns to a year, Jenis became a safe haven for warriors, mages, and those wanting amnesty from Ulthegarius as they attempt to conquer Melony. Not that the Empress will allow that to happen--Victoria is proud of her ruler--forgiving towards refugees, although they are travelling as far eastbound as they can to get away from the fight, which is why they stop in Jenis. It’s two weeks journey from the nearest port city, but it’s remote where news will not reach the town for months at a time. It helps with the seclusion and while some are anxious to know what town or city was attacked during the war between Ulthegarius and Melony, Victoria would rather not contemplate on it.

War means more business, which may be a good thing, she hates the thought of so many people getting injured. Better injured then dead; however, she worries that the plants surrounding her town will dwindle either through over-harvesting or corruption. Lord Lanthandra’s has been turning to magic that messes with the natural order of the world, and there is word that her using it on her army, or a few mages enlisted in her army using it, has corrupted the rich mineral and agriculture lands in Ulthegarius. Who knows if the corruption spreads, infecting the wildlife in nearby areas that slowly reach outward. Her army could be in Melony, continue using that magic, and it contaminates the land and eventually Jenis which lies in the far east of Melony.

Victoria wipes the sweat from her brow and looks down at her basket that is already filled up. She takes off her gloves and smacks them against themselves, getting the dirt off of them. She places them carefully on top of the comfrey leaves and flower buds. She holds the tools in her other hand, and she is about to go back to the path to Jenis when she spots a figure behind one of the trees.

She almost didn’t catch the person, they are wearing a dark brown cloak who was watching her. Her eyebrows furrow as she wonders why the person didn’t bother speaking to her. Perhaps they are lost? Maybe they are looking for directions to Jenis. Perhaps the person was wandering around the forest when they got themselves off the dirt path, or they are a marauder.

Regardless, she calls out to the person. “Hello there, are you lost?”

The figure clad in the brown cloak moves behind the tree, startled despite her staring them down. 

“Are you mute or hurt? I have a shop in the nearby town. Would you like to come with me?” Victoria steps closer to the person and the person moves to the other side of the tree.

The person crouches down before getting up. The cloak is wrapped around them like they—she doesn’t know if the figure is male or female due to the frame being androgynous—are scared. Which doesn’t make a lick of sense to her because the person is taller than her for at least two feet.

“I am looking for work.” The figure says slowly in a monotone, not allowing her to interpret whether the person is male or female. “And I am lost.”

Victoria taps her foot and nods. It appears that this person is hesitant to talking to others. “I don’t mind bringing you to Jenis if you need work.” She walks toward the person, and this time the person tentatively walks forward and there are pink wild cosmos in their hand. What is odd is that the person is grabbing the flowers through the cloak.

This is one idiosyncrasy that she notes before shaking her head. She needs to remember that not all people are the same, like how Jules typically clicks his tongue or that Donnie constantly taps his middle finger with his thumb whenever he was talking.

The person hunches over themselves as they amble toward her out of their own volition and hands the pink cosmos to her. “I saw that you like flowers so,” the person places the flowers in front of her.

Victoria gives them a wry grin, suppressing her chuckle because she knows that the person doesn’t know about flower meanings. Although, if they do, she is flattered that she is being called a young beauty. Everyone likes to be called beautiful one form or another and she takes the flowers from their grasp and places it in her basket.

“Thank you, they are lovely.” Victoria says as she looks under the hood of the figure.

Her lips flicker downward for a moment as she sees that the figure’s lower face is covered. She can only see that they have the slightest shine of amber eyes, but they keep their features hidden. Once again odd that an elf or a human with a profound mutation to cover their face, but perhaps that the person is self-conscious about how they look. Not to mention that it’s the middle of spring and there is no chill in the wind.

Regardless, the person seemed to gleam with pride when they stood a bit straighter before crouching down. This time in a way she thinks as respectful, instead of them making themselves smaller, so that she won’t notice them.

“So, my wonderful travelling companion, what’s your name? My name is Victoria Applebees.” The halfling introduces herself as she walks besides the cloaked person as she guides them onto the dirt path leading to Jenis.

“I think it’s Wren.” Wren says as if he, she, they don’t know what name their mother gave them.

“Now is that a boys name or a girls name? Sorry for asking, just that some of my acquaintances.” Victoria really needs to stuff her fist in her mouth. She shouldn’t be making social blunders, for goodness sake, she is a affluent shopkeeper. She should know how to phrase this differently!

Victoria would face palm if she wouldn’t hit herself with her tools or jostle her newly harvested herbs. She settles for scrunching her face and groans.

Wren seems to find her reaction amusing as they chuckle. “My name represents both but also none. Do you understand?”

Victoria purses her lips. Is Wren telling her that their sense of self is weak? Unless they is the correct term to refer to them due to their culture. It must be an elf thing because she knows a lot about human cultures in Melony and the surrounding countries from merchants travelling across regions. “Kind of, you prefer to be called they instead of he or she for the most part right?”

Wren nods their head. “You are smart Victoria.”

Victoria giggles, “Why you flatter me Wren. Now what type of work are you looking for?”

Wren wrings their covered hands, contemplating on the topic. “I don’t know. Housework? Yard work? Defending?” With each proposed job Wren shrinks in on themselves and Victoria feels bad for them.

They have been flighty in the beginning before gaining some semblance of comfort in her presence.

“Well I have been looking for someone to help me with housework for a while if you don’t mind doing all of the above besides defending the place. No one would bother us, everyone in Jenis is nice to one another.” Victoria suggests trying to put Wren at ease.

The elf is naturally nervous, and she doesn’t know if one of her neighbors will bother them to put on different ensemble. They seem to hate their appearance, or perhaps they are self-conscious about the scars they gained if Wren was part of a skirmish between Melony’s and Lord Lanthandra’s army. Regardless, she feels sorry for Wren, and she might as well assist them as much as she can due to their nervous demeanor.

“You’d do that for me?” Wren asks as they stop in the middle of the road just as they are a few feet away from Jenis’ open gates.

“Of course. You’d be earning your keep and I will pay you for necessities. I’ll tell you what you’ll need to do, but first I need to go to my shop.” Victoria says, buying herself time to come up with menial tasks for Wren to do.

She also needs to get to the apothecary. No doubt Jules is already losing his mind because the hour is drawing to a close for today’s humid weather, or she stayed longer in the clearing to harvest the plants and talk to Wren.

“Is that fine with you? I need to talk with my apprentice before I can show you to your new lodgings and job.”

“That is fine. You had prior commitments.” Wren states as he lags behind her once they are inside the town instead of walking beside her like in the woods and road.

Victoria can already imagine that Wren is making themselves smaller by curling up and their shoulders tensing up. She decides to talk louder because she can see from her peripherals that Wren is lagging behind her before quickening their steps, and almost bumping into her from the townsfolk unabashedly staring at them.

“We are almost there,” Victoria says as she goes down the path to the market district in Jenis. “See,” she points to Victory’s Apothecary.

“It looks nice.” Wren says, seeing the small shop squished between the bakery and the custom tailor’s establishment.

“Thanks, I got it before most of the buildings were even up.” Victoria says as she opens the door for Wren.

The cloaked elf walks inside, and she hears Jules say, “We are going to close soon, so make your purchases immediately.”

Victoria shakes her head, and berates her worker, “Jules, what did I tell you about being welcoming? While the shop will close it doesn’t mean you got to drop your hospitalic attitude. You got to keep the customer service until this establishment is closed.”

Jules just grumbles and Victoria locks the door behind her. “So whose that?” Jules inquires pointing at Wren who looks around in awe as if they never seen an apothecary.

“Wren here is going to help me with organizing my house.”

“Hey you need it. That a girl Wren, someone needs to keep my mentor’s home clean. I swear there is no spare surface there.” Jules says to Wren, slighting Victoria.

It’s not her fault that she has plenty of potions, balms, herbs, empty containers, and distilling tools strewn on her tables and her couch. She was creating large batches for the beginning of winter that she would sell for the season. Now there are empty vials and a few dried herbs left around that Victoria has yet to finish cleaning and properly storing.

Having Wren as a housekeeper will improve her living conditions. Victoria would love if Jules didn’t open his mouth and throw dirt on her in front Wren. Normally she doesn’t mind him joshing her, he’s playful, but she worries that his abrasive personality may scare off Wren due to their skittishness. Not to mention she doesn’t want Wren to be intimidate for cleaning her home. It isn’t that bad.

Her bedroom’s mostly spotless, the guest bedroom is spotless, and her kitchen table is clean. Gosh she shouldn’t be fret about the state of her house this much.

“Now stop you. I need to prepare for you short exam and then I’ll teach you how to create a salve. Now Wren, why don’t you sit over there?” Victoria points to a stool in the corner of the storefront. “I need to show Jules some of my craft before I can inform you of your responsibilities. Jules, when I go to the back, you don’t heckle them okay?”

Wren nods and stares at the stool near the front counter. Jules rolls his eyes at her slight, “Yeah yeah, just hurry up teach and make up your damn mind. Exam or quiz, from what I heard from the studious folk, one’s worse than the other.”

Victoria just sighs and places her basket and tools in her workshop. She picks up lavender, aloe, comfrey, turmeric, and boswellia. She brings them to the front desk and she wags her finger back and forth, “Alright. Jules to the other side of the counter. Can’t have you cheating.”

Jules rolls his eyes, cutting his conversation with Wren who stands beside him. “Like I’d do that.”

Jules study the plants intently, touching the leaves and flowers while Wren mirrors his intent scrutiny. At least, that’s what Victoria assumes because she cannot see Wren’s expressions besides hearing their fingers drumming the table with intent. She’s thankful that they did not attempt to grasp the plants, Jules would definitely snatch them from their hands because he needs to assess the plants.

If Wren decides to stick around Jenis they could help her pull out the invasive plants that would choke her garden, thus, her livelihood. If she teaches them the distinction of plants and their uses, she can have extra time to herself to create balms or potions to heal ailments of the common folk. Of course, the information won’t be as extensive as Jules’ education, but that is because he is her apprentice who has aspirations to become an apothecarist.

Victoria ceases her train of thought as she hears Jules points to each flower and leaf. He points to a green stalk with multitude of white petals with yellow pistils that surround small orange petals that surround a light green bulb in the middle of the flower. “That’s the boswellia plant, it’s good for treating coughs and sores.” He then points to a long thick leaf with sharp edges that is green with grey streaks. “Aloe, it’s good for burns.” Jules touches a light green leaf that has a single stalk coming from the end of it. There are delicate petals stacked on top of each other at the end of the stalk, white that turns to a delicate pink at the edge of the petals. “Definitely turmeric.” He sets his sights on lavender, small deep purple flowers on a single stalk and says, “Comfrey.” She sees that Jules call the bundle of purple bell-shaped flowers with two leaves coming from a stem that is offshoot from the main stem as lavender.

Victoria claps her hands, “So you got aloe, boswellia, and turmeric right and you just confused lavender and comfrey together. Remember, when in doubt and you can’t recall what plant it is, sniff it. Each one has a distinct scent.”

“Right, but I got most of them right. I studied your notes extensively. I’ll commit more flowers to memory.” Jules says resolutely and goes around the counter to grab his book of plants that he made a facsimile of her own encyclopedia of plants with their uses and images.

“You’re so knowledgeable about these plants, that’s amazing,” Wren wistfully says as it was the most amazing skill there is.

“Why thank you Wren. I still got a lot to learn, especially with my hand constantly cramping when I’m writing.” Jules says, making his point as he cracks his knuckles.

Wren takes a step back as if cracking bones is a grievous offense to them. They rub their arm and Victoria brushes that off. She says, “That’s how my mentor taught me, but if you need help with sketching out the flowers, I could spend a few minutes, or you can sketch the newly picked flowers.”

“Still life?” Wren asks, their head tilting.

“Exactly,” Victoria nods.

“Well I’m working here, so lots of my daylight is spent here.”

“Well either you go out to a field, or you can bring me some flowers and I’ll tell you what the plants are for if they serve medicinal purposes or are poisonous.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll do that. Now, aren’t you going to teach me how to create a salve?” Jules slyly asks, attempting to hide his excitement.

“Alright, alright, I was getting to that. Come with me to the back, we need to use the stove. Wren, you can come with us if you want.” Victoria says as she collects the plants and place them in their designated basket or box.

Her current and future employee follow behind her and she smiles. She then goes into an in-depth explanation of creating a simple healing salve. She allows Jules to stir olive oil with sliced echinacea leaves and root, comfrey leaves, calendum flowers, and rosemary in a double boiler over low heat for three hours. She discusses with Jules that there is another way to infuse the herbs with the olive oil by leaving them in a jar for 3-4 weeks, and he’d have to shake the jar daily.

She had him strain the herbs from the oil in a cheesecloth and throw away the remaining herbs. He had to combine the infused oil with ¼ cups of beeswax that she got from her family. He put it in a double boiler and stirred it over low heat. The salve was placed in small tins and she informed her apprentice that the salve would help with cuts, bruises, and poison ivy.

“Finally, now I can create my own personal salves.” Jules says as he holds the tins full of his salves that he made.

“Just make sure not to give out the trade secret, otherwise I’ll be out of business.” Victoria winks as if it’s a joke. “But seriously Jules, this could potentially bankrupt our trade. Some salves I make are to make sure no one has a allergic reaction.”

“I understand.”

Victoria smiles at her pupil and glances at Wren, who was standing vigilant, pouring over Jules work while she was shaking the jars of oil infused herbs. She has a system where there are different cabinets that represent curing different ailments and measured how long the oils were infused for. She had to move some jars to the next cabinet, cycling through her system. Wren didn’t move a muscle even when Jules was sitting on a stool at one point and continuing to copy herb names, picture, and the uses of them in his plant encyclopedia.

Jules takes his salves and book, leaving through the front of the shop. Wren turns to her and asks, “Do we go home now?”

“Yeah, come on. We had a long day.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wren is absolutely smitten with Victoria, but since this is from her POV, she doesn't know that.

Victoria brings Wren to her home, which is toward the outskirts of the town while still being within its borders. She informs Wren, “There are no fences surrounding the back of Jenis, but past this clearing is technically wild land.”

“Interesting. You don’t worry about drifters?”

“What’s there to worry about? Towns just a few hundred yards away and there is an obvious trail,” Victoria tilts her head to the small dirt trail they are on. She’s been walking back and forth for years to town; a path was formed straight from her front door or from the back of her cottage. “I got nothing to worry about besides some wild animals getting past my garden’s fence.”

Wren walks up the hill with her and they state, “Yet no fence around your house.”

“Waste of wood that I would have to cut by myself,” Victoria facetiously says, dissuading their concerns. It’s not like she hasn’t already thought of that before or was bothered by other townsfolk about that issue.

“You’re not worried of someone breaking in?”

The two of them are on her property and are walking to her front door. Wren, from what Victoria assumes, is looking around the place, seeing the sectioned off rosemary bushes and other herbs at the front of the house that are meticulously cared for. There are more behind her home, as she systematically planned to keep plenty of herbs behind her home along with a few poisonous plants.

“Locks inside and outside my home.” She says taking out her ring of keys and she unlocks her front door. “Well home sweet home. Why don’t you take off your cloak, you must be sweating from the heat.”

“I’m well, thank you.” Wren says, shrugging off her concern.

Victoria frowns and glances around her living room. The place is slightly cluttered, only slightly. A few clothes are strewn about, plants, and more dirty containers than she thought there would be. No wonder Wren doesn’t want to put their things down.

Victoria coughs into her fist, “Let me show you around.”

Wren nods. They gingerly walk over a tincture that has some liquid inside it and Victoria wishes that her house wasn’t in such a state.

“This is the living room and over there is the kitchen.” Victoria points to the open space in the front of her home.

Toward the back of the cottage is a room for the broom closet where she keeps her extra vials and blankets. Basically the closet is a catch all; it contains her spare linens, her old books, notebooks, spare seeds that she will be planting, rags, extra equipment, a box full of candles, and her winter clothes. She points at it, “That’s the closet, it contains miscellaneous items. If you can’t find anything, chances are it’s in there. Come on, I’ll make your bed prior to sleeping. This way you’ll be nice and comfortable. Don’t want to scare you off too soon.”

The next door over is the guest room and she gives them a tour of their room. It’s basic, it has a single nightstand, a small mirror, a dresser, chamber pot, a potted plant on the window sill, and a full bed.

“So what do you think? What kind of sheets do you prefer, green or beige with stripes?”

“This is nice. Green seems lovely.” Wren says as they walk to the window too look out it. “I can change the bedding, I don’t want to trouble you.”

“It’s no trouble, today you are settling in.” Victoria says, waving off their concern.

She doesn’t need them to do this. Her making their bed is the least she can do. She needs to demonstrate she has some competency in her own home, she cannot allow them to think that she is a total slob.

Quickly fixing the bed in under five minutes she wipes her forehead before surreptitiously looking at Wren to see if they are impressed. They are leaning towards her and she can’t quite see their facial expressions with the scarf a majority of their face that the hood doesn’t cover. It’s strange that they keep it on, even when they were in her shop. Perhaps it’s a type of elvish custom, or they are extremely shy about their appearance. She may need to inquire some of her elvish acquaintances.

Victoria coughs into her fist. “Anyway, why don’t I fix you something to eat?”

Wren hesitates, shifting from side to side. Poor thing, they are embarrassed about eating food that she makes. Well, she might as well get started on doing the dishes. She’ll be halfway through them so her new worker won’t be put through the wringer.

She might as well clean up her supplies. This way they won’t clean the dishes with the amalgamation of fluids and herbs.

“No thank you Victoria.” Wren courteously declines, just like how she expects them to.

She levies the cloaked elf a stare. Like she’d believe that hogwash. They decide to stand their ground and she just shakes her head. “I don’t mind cutting bread and taking out some meat and cheese. It’s not really cooking if you’re making a sandwich. It’s very simple.” She tacts on, trying to entice Wren.

“I ate before arriving in Jenis. Thank you for the concern Victoria.”

Her new housekeeper is a obstinate individual. She’ll wear them down eventually.

“But perhaps may I come sit with you?” Wren suggests, messing with their long brown cloak’s sleeves.

Ah ha, an opening! It’s better than nothing, so Victoria acquiesces that her new housekeeper has some sensibilities.

“Of course,” she flashes him a wide grin. “It’s always nice to have some company. Although,” she muses aloud, “I should get the candles lit, it’ll get dark soon.” 

She walks past them to the kitchen to fix herself a sandwich. Along the way she gets her fire starter from her apron and lights a candle that’s placed along the hallway. She’d rather not get be walking blind when she gets up early in the morning. She takes the candle and lights up the candles in her kitchen.

Wren awkwardly sits in the only clear space on the kitchen table, when Victoria comes back after placing the candle back in the candle holder she quickly takes the items and places them on the counter top.

She takes out from the drawer a knife which she cuts two thin slices of bread, cheese, and a slice of pepperoni. She doesn’t want to seem like she’s ravenous. She grabs one of the few remaining clean plates from the cabinet and sits down. Placing the plate off to the side as she takes a careful bite out of her sandwich.

“How are you liking Jenis so far?” Victoria asks, not comfortable with the silence. She thought that Wren would start talking to her, but they have been silent.

“It’s calm and quaint. If you are not offended by quaint.” Wren chuckles, before stopping as if they are nervous about their response.

Victoria lips quirks upward. “It is a bit quaint, it grew a lot larger than before.”

Wren tilts their head to the side as if fascinated by the concept. Victoria takes another bite of her sandwich and they fall into silence three seconds in. She can’t help but feel a bit uneasy, her eating food in a mess of a kitchen while Wren is presumably staring at her. She takes a big bite and chews quickly.

“Too bad I can’t show you the sights that Jenis has to offer. I might do half a day tomorrow to show you around. That seems fine with you?”

“You don’t have to do that. You should be overseeing Jules.” Wren says.

Victoria polishes off her sandwich. “It’s a half day already, we’d just be ending around noon. I can introduce you to the locals.”

“Ah, alright.” They say quietly as she gets up from her seat with her plate in hand.

“So what brings you here Wren? Wanting to settle in a not-so sleepy small town?” Victoria inquires as she piles her plate on top of a stack of larger plates as she takes all her jars, beakers, tinctures, and stirring sticks into her large wash bin for cleaning.

There is already water from three days ago when she thought she would clean. Obviously, that did not happen, which is why she’s enlisting Wren’s assistance, and giving the weary traveler a place to stay. She doesn’t know what they have dealt with in their travels and it seemed that they were escaping something or got lost from how she met them. She might as well get a story out of them, so she won’t feel so awkward talking to them. It’s not a good feeling to be eating while her new employee isn’t either.

“I was in Ulthegarius. I suppose you haven’t heard news about the war front encroaching on Melony’s boarders?” Wren carefully states as if this issue isn’t old news.

However, Victoria never heard of an Ulthegarian citizen crossing into enemy territory to avoid the war. Normally a citizen would be fleeing into a semi-neutral country then travel for months on end to reach Jenis. Maybe they are trying to get to a port town?

“I heard a bit. Don’t know much because information’s already old when it reaches here.”

From her peripherals she see’s Wren nod. “I was there roughly four seasons ago and started traveling here, desperately avoiding the fights. It was…arduous. There wasn’t much food available and folk weren’t the most hospitable. They don’t take kindly to strangers who hide their figure. Thinking I would attack them.” Wren melancholy whispers out before waving their sleeve covered hands. “Not that I would! I’m not a monster. I’m just trying to get by.”

She hums, nodding her head as she clears out an area and places a towel over it. She begins to clean. “I believe you; you seem like a gentle soul. I’m sorry you had a lot of bad experiences crossing the border.”

“It’s worth it regardless.”

“Why exactly did you come into Melony? Surely you knew that we are a war.”

Wren hesitates, “I may have gotten turned around. I thought I was going to Cyprus.”

Victoria winces, poor thing, not knowing where they were until it was too late. She would never guess they were from Ulthegarius, there is not a hint of an accent in their voice. “Do you wish to travel to Cyprus?”

“I…no. I think I’d like it here. It’s too busy there.”

“Well that’s good, you’d travel five months to the north on foot to even cross into it’s border, much less find a trading outpost.”

“Yeah.”

“Were you…fine on the road? Did highwaymen bother you too much?”

“Not often after the first two encounters. Learned to walk parallel to the road.”

Victoria finishes up washing the jars and vials. She places them delicately on the towels, which she added while Wren was talking. “Ain’t that a nifty skill.”

“You learn the strangest thing in life.” Wren says, “You sure you don’t need any help?”

“I’m fine. I’m already done.” She says as she dries her hands.

She notices how the kitchen is bathed in darkness with the candle in front of Wren, who looks like a shadowy figure, and the two on the counter illuminating the place.

“Do you want something to drink before going to sleep?” Victoria inquires, already grabbing a cup for him to poor him some lemonade.

“I’m not parched, but thanks for the offer.”

“If you say so. I can direct you to your room. I think there are a few books in the nightstand if you want something to read instead of sleeping. I need to get up bright and early.” She says as she blows out the nearest candle.

Wren gets up walks away from the candle’s light, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You don’t need the light?”

“I’ll be fine.”

Victoria furrows her eyebrows, but she doesn’t see Wren in the kitchen anymore, not even their silhouette. “Wren?”

“I’m in the hallway.” They say and Victoria breathes out a sigh of relief.

“Just be careful okay.”

Victoria blows out the last two candles in the kitchen and allows her eyes to adjust. She moves her hands in front of her and touches the wall. She goes to the hallway and sees the candle in the hallway. She takes the candle holder and the fire starter with her to her room. As she passes Wren’s bedroom she calls out, “Have a good night.”

“You too Victoria,” she hears Wren’s voice loud and clear.

She smiles and goes to her room. Shutting it, she puts the items on her nightstand and changes into her nightgown before blowing out the flame. She snuggles up and wonders how things are going to be. While she doesn’t know much about Wren despite being a citizen from Ulthegarius, she hopes that they will feel safer her.

She’ll definitely take them places and maybe go clothes shopping. They need something besides that tattered cloak and she didn’t see a bag on them. She may as well say that it’s part of their paycheck, she has a lot of money saved up already from her job.

The next day after work, Victoria takes Wren to Lalonish Tailor right next door to her shop. The shop is run by a pair of wood elf siblings, Jina and Tate, with their goblin worker Syliz and human worker Legin. They receive an open reception, mainly from Syliz and Tate whenever the two would get injured they’d come to her shop to buy some cream or past to heal up their injuries.

“Nice to see you. Aren’t you the new guy?” Jina greets Wren with a smile and they step back from her exuberant welcome after two others were yelling out from the shop.

“Nice to meet you too?”

“Come on, I’ll fix you something special. Victoria always buys something whenever family or friends are in town. Makes her a loyalty customer.”

Tate looks at Syliz and Legin. The two workers stop hemming clothes and brings over the measuring tape and a step stool respectively. Victoria can see that Wren physically tense before turning on their heel and absconding from the store.

“What’s wrong with him?” Legin asks, placing the step stool on the ground and looks at the halfling woman.

Victoria shrugs, raising her eyebrow at Legin for his mistake. What is it with people associating tallness with being masculine. Wren’s voice isn’t even deep, kind of like a skittish monotone right now. “I think I need to talk to Wren. They seem to be skittish about people touching them.”

“Wren was it?” Victoria nods at Jina, “That fellow really needs a good cloak.”

Tate comes closer to Victoria to whisper, “You think they are a drow elf.”

“You’re guess is good as mine,” Victoria says, thinking about the suggestion for a few seconds before shaking her head. “I’m sorry about that Tate, Jina. I’m need to go find them.”

The halfling woman ambles to the door and leaves the shop. After taking a few steps, making sure that she’s away from Lalonish Tailor, she bolts, trying to find out where Wren scurried off to.

She hasn’t shown them the rest of the town yet, and despite it being small, they could still be lost. Or worse, happen to instigate a fight after bumping into one of the surlier folk that lives in Jenis. She hopes that she can find them before dark.

Victoria starts frantically looking and calling out Wren’s name before doing the smart thing, inquiring if anyone saw a figure in a tattered brown cloak and scarf. She says that she turned her back for a minute and that her new housemate got lost.

She doesn’t want to say that Wren literally ran away because they were afraid of being touched, the light, or clothes. That information is too personal. She does not want her neighbors and friends to spread nasty rumors or gossip about their idiosyncrasies.


	4. Chapter 4

Weeks pass, Victoria and Wren got into a swing of things. Wren typically works on the housework and Victoria is outside in her garden harvesting herbs. On occasion when she looks over her shoulder, she sees that Wren is staring at her through the window. She waves her hand at them, wanting them to come out and enjoy the sun. Some days she can convince Wren to come out and enjoy the sun, the two drinking either lemonade or fresh water underneath the shade.

It is nice having someone over. It’s like she’s living with her family again. Albeit someone who is near silent, just having another presence does wonders. Sitting down in the living room quietly talking, reading, or working on mixtures.

What Victoria doesn’t like about Wren is that they still adamantly refuse to get any clothes. After the first time going to Lalonish Tailor they politely excused themselves and then absconded from the area whenever the two of them are even walking near the building. At least away from her and then showing up at their predetermined destination by going the long way.

Honestly, that is only trait that she dislikes about Wren, their stubbornness in refusing help and perceived handouts. She suspects they haven’t even eaten any of the food in her pantry yet, they are barely touched. Victoria is concerned about Wren’s help and their warped sense of not accepting any help. She’s just been paying him five silver coins a week for his work for the past three months, and they haven’t bought much besides books and leaving out sweet treats for her. They shouldn’t be doing that, spending money on their employer.

Literally, Wren offers her the sweets and will not eat them because they offered a danish to her and it molded. Then they bought another one for her two weeks later and she reluctantly ate the treats. She assumes they are doing this out of feeling grateful towards her, but they shouldn’t be spending their money on her.

They should buy things that they love.

Victoria shakes her head and decides that today is the day she is going to give Wren a gift. She inquired Tate and Syliz about Wren’s estimated height to create a dark blue cloak instead of his filthy drab dark brown one, a spare that matches the color of the original, and a new shirt.

The dressmakers finished their commission in roughly nine days with all the other orders they were doing and were given to her after she closed up shop. Wren already went ahead to their home, not wanting to walk past the Lalonish Tailor because they still think that she will convince them to go in.

Well they will see now. She doesn’t need them to physically be there to get clothes prepared for them. The possibility of them being too big for them is present, but she’ll take it. Anything to get them out of their old clothes that haven’t been washed in sometime after she tries to come in periodically to surprise them while working.

Speaking about surprises, Victoria walks into their room without knocking. “Wren, look wha—I, what?!”

Victoria finally sees Wren without the hood of their cloak on, and she sees the white bone of a skeleton with glowing amber eyes. There are cracks on their face filled with an off white color and immediately they drop to the floor cowering, phalanges of their hands splayed over their head protectively. Their eyes are shut, from the way the skeleton made of bone, solid material, is shut and they are quivering on the ground.

“Don’t hurt me!” They cry out, “You won’t have to see me again, I’ll leave.”

Victoria feels faint and heavy at the same time. She feels like the clothes in her arms would drop in a moment and she tightens her grip on them. She forces herself to move, putting the clothes on the bed and looms over her friend. She sinks to the floor, noting that Wren becomes tense, they are about to bolt, and she wraps her arms around them.

No matter how startled she was about their appearance, they are still the person who she spent her evenings with. The two have been conversing quietly while working, reading together, gossiping with each other, or she was teaching them a bit about her work because they were curious about it. Wren isn’t just a housekeeper for her, they are a close friend, and right now they are terrified. She ignores the tight feeling in her upper chest to give them what they need.

Victoria gives them a tight hug, literally sitting on them to make sure they are calm down. She wrapped her hands around their back and rubs their spin in hopes of assuaging their panic.

Wren slowly but surely calms their “breathing”. They lift their arms and wraps them around her. She barely feels their phalanges on her back as if they are hesitant about it.

“I’m sorry, I should have knocked. I didn’t mean to distress you.” Victoria whispers, her neck touching the cool black magic strands connecting to Wren’s thoracic vertebrae and their clavicle.

The magic is all around their bones as if it’s connecting them, allowing Wren to move and talk. Allowed him to come to Jenis and meet her.

“I—Thank you.”

Wren shuts their mouth and leans into her and she can hear them shuddering. She accepts it and sighs. “You aren’t leaving you hear me? Unless you want to leave to move off to bigger and better prospects.”

“You aren’t going to force me to leave?” They whisper in disbelief.

“No! I would never!” Victoria says, moving away from them to look straight into their amber eye sockets, “I like you. I would never do that.”

They just look at her, and says, “You aren’t scared of me? You aren’t going to hurt me like the rest when they see my body?”

“While I didn’t expect this, I always thought you were drow.” Victoria gives an awkward chuckle. She can’t read Wren’s expressions. “Wren, you are a skeleton, but I’m not scared. Stressed that you are, yes. Unexpected? Yes. Am I going to hurt you? No! Why? You haven’t done a thing. Why would I ever hurt someone?”

“Because I am different. Everyone always tries to harm me.” They say quietly as Victoria sits beside them. They bring their legs up, hugging their knees. “And when I get hurt, I brea,k and it doesn’t feel good when I heal.”

Victoria doesn’t know what to say as Wren tightens his hold. She wets her lips, mouth suddenly dry. There is a lot to unpack in the past few sentences and she doesn’t want to drive them away. They sound defeated and tired at this point after being fearful of her reaction.

“Wren, how exactly do you heal?”

“This thing amasses the fallen things into my body to heal me. It is not pleasant. I…lose myself during those times.”

Victoria hesitantly touches the back of Wren’s hand where there is a massive amount of black magic like tendons cover it in a thin sheen. “This?”

“Yes. It wants me to stay alive, be her perfect weapon,” Wren spits out, clenching their hand into a fist. She soothes them, rubbing circles on the cool bones and cold black magic.

“You are no one’s weapon; you are a kind soul.” She has no idea what they are referencing, but they are clearly agitated from the slightest reference to their…creator? Enslaver? Master?

“I…thanks. I don’t know sometimes. I lose myself.”

“But you haven’t lost yourself recently right?”

“No, I’ve been careful. Haven’t been bumping into too many hard surfaces.”

“That’s good. I’m glad that you were you when you stayed here Wren. And you have a home here, I don’t want you running out my door the moment I turn my back on you. Okay?” Victoria orders, waving her finger in front of Wren’s face in disapproval.

While she got closer to the skeleton, she still doesn’t understand them. Victoria assumes that they would be safer if they stayed in her home. Heck, now she can get more clothes for them and they won’t have to stress too much about being seen. Her cottage is a little away from the town.

“I guess that’s why you never ate my food.” Victoria muses aloud, “I assumed that you didn’t like my cooking.”

“And here I thought I was furtive.” They chortle, “At least I can consume liquids.”

“The only saving grace.” Victoria jokes, elbowing Wren’s ribs.

Although, she can’t help but wonder where the liquid goes. Does it get absorbed by the magic tendons or does it go somewhere else? She bites her bottom lip as a way to prevent herself from inquiring that delicate subject matter. She doesn’t know what exactly would bother Wren more, but she figures they will tell her if they deem it an issue.

Wren laughs, “Thanks for letting me stay. This takes a load off my shoulders.”

“Same, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Although, do you think you can try these clothes?” Victoria asks as she grabs the clothes from the bed and hands them to Wren tentatively.

“I can, I doubt they will fit given my appearance.” Wren stretches their face and the bone appears to be malleable somewhat, so she can tell they are giving her a grin.

How Wren came into being is weird, and she’s going to attempt to not focus on the small details. Like the fact they are an animated skeleton that regenerates or somehow take the bones from other dried up corpses through the black magic sticking to the sides of their bones and the joints of them.

“No doubt I’ll have to find you some pants, I don’t know your size when I commissioned these from Lalonish Tailor. I have some skirts and pants if you’d like to try them on. I don’t know if they will be small on you.” Victoria helpfully suggests before leering at them, “Although those pants will be shorts for you if they fit.”

“We’ll see,” they say.

Wren unfolds the clothing and their eye sockets widen seeing a spare brown cloak, a blue one, and a button-down shirt. “Thank you, I am touched. No one has ever been this kind to me.”

“I thought you might like them. I hoped that you would like them and that they would fit. If not, I can get adjustments from Jenis, she already guaranteed that to me.” Victoria gets up from the floor, patting the dust off herself.

She doubts that the room is filthy, but it gives her something to do. She’s feeling a bit awkward here.

Wren sets the clothing onto the bed and gets up, towering over her. They give her a hug, “I’ll try them on right now.”

“Sure, I’ll be in the living room then for a fashion show.”

She thinks about how she will get their old cloak fixed up with a needle and thread. Wren did some patchwork on it, but it looks messy. She might as well try her hand on mending it before sending it to the tailor’s.

Victoria leaves Wren’s room and waits not even a minute until they come out wearing the blue cloak. The hood is down and she sees how the color brings out the paleness of their bones and their amber eyes. It looks absolutely gorgeous. She can barely see their phalanges poking out from the hem of the cloak and they are messing with it.

“You look lovely, but the bottom seems a bit too long like you are going to trip.”

“It’s actually a good length for me that way. I wish they added another inch or two. I can’t wear this outside.” Wren says as they mess with the clothing.

“Everyone would assume that you have fair skin for a drow.”

“Enough with the drow jokes. I doubt it would be acceptable. They’d make me put down my hood if they think I had pale skin instead of a dark gray.”

“Well I guess you can wear casual clothes inside without the cloak and outside you keep it on. It’s a shame that you can’t go out without being covered up.”

“I’ve been going out in the dead of night.”

“So the creaking in the cottage was you? I thought I was hearing things.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Do you even sleep?”

Wren’s skull contorts into that of a thinking expression with a dark tongue darting out to curl upward while the bones above the eye socket turn downward. “Kind of. I need to sleep for a short amount of time, but typically I rest longer to peruse my memories.”

Victoria nods like that is a typical thing that people do. “Huh.”

“Well I don’t do that that often now. Your flowers are lovely and listening to the nightlife calms me down.”

Wren turns around and goes to their room to put on his replacement cloak. It seems that this one’s sleeves are longer than the blue cloak, perhaps Lalonish wanted to mimic the original and made the blue cloak more form fitting? Victoria does not understand them. Wren seems to like it.

“It’s perfect.”

“If you say so Wren. Let me see what the original looks like, we could fix it up.”

“Thank you, Victoria.” Wren says before turning back to try on the button-down shirt.

They come out with a light green shirt and completely tattered leather pants with bits of metal attached onto there. They have a belt for the pants, and their shirt is tucked in to give some form of depth. All in all, they look handsome even though Victoria is still getting used to seeing their skull. She can get used to it because Wren seems to be happy, given that their eyes are glowing and the __, which are considered cheekbones, appear to have a facsimile of a smile, given the tendons contouring their bone. Or Wren’s bones are simply different where the ones on their face is more malleable, expressive, than their skeletal body.

She claps, “You look amazing. If you want to keep it, you can wear it around the house.”

“Wouldn’t Jules come in for some extra lessons.”

“I will notify you if he is coming. If it’s in advance, I’ll make sure to tell you, but if it’s last minute because he was hounding me, I’ll joke if you are decent.” Victoria flashes him a smile, “After all this is our house.”

The shadowlike magic around Wren’s face take on a purple hue where it barely colored it at all during the impromptu fashion show. “I would like that very much.” Wren says, staring at her with a slight smile as they sit down on the opposite side of the loveseat. 

Victoria assumes that they are embarrassed and is acting like that they aren’t, given the strong eye. It looks like Wren is finally becoming more comfortable with themself and with her. “Good, now do you want some tea with honey before bed? We have enough daylight for that so I’m not stumbling around.”

“I’ll light the candles and return the mugs to the kitchen.”

“Thank you, what would I do without you?” Victoria says as she walks to the kitchen to prepare the tea.

The halfling really struck gold when she asked the skeleton to be her housekeeper turned housemate turned friend. It’s nice to talk with someone again in their own home, she never realized how lonely she was until Wren came into her life. While she does have friends in Jenis, no one stays with her after closing hours or one of her friends throws a get together that is planned a fortnight in advance because of their busy schedules. Wren is a taciturn person, but their presence is felt throughout the cottage.

She can see that they leave their books on the table slightly askew due to frequent reading, how they create dyes with varying success from spare flowers or plants they forage, that they bring something interesting back from their walks, or gossip from the miffed gnome from the other side of town, spoiler alert, he spews out insults or aggravations he has towards others in dwarfish while being semi-sweet in Common. Wren loves nature, loves learning, from the inquiries they have when they bring home specific plants or rock formations.

She is glad that they love Jenis because she was worried that they would grow tired or bored staying at the house or her apothecary.

Victoria brings the mugs full of dandelion tea with a teaspoon of honey in one mug for herself and two for Wren. She sits down back on the loveseat and the two of them talk for a while, about two hours. She doesn’t notice that it is completely dark save for a few candles and Wren’s glowing eyes. Sometimes she loses herself when talking with them, evening conversations are what she loves because she knows Wren enjoys them. It’s one of the few times they are talking a lot. When Victoria shifts in her seat and feels that she feels the cuff of Wren’s shirt, she realizes Wren is sitting closer to her than usual.

Her lips quirk upward and she opens her mouth ready to tease them.

“You want me to take your cup now? I notice that you’ve been yawning a lot Victoria.”

“Thank you Wren.” Victoria holds her mug out and makes sure to not hit Wren with it.

They move from their seat, taking the mugs with them. Victoria stares at the retreating figure and takes one of the candles on the coffee table. She smiles down on the flame. This is nice. She honestly does not want this to change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I tried to communicate that Wren when they are hurt they absorb the bones of the fallen. With that, some of their memories and skills. Not many skills stick to them, but they do know literally all languages in this world. I doubt they would say something to Victoria as of right now because they really want to stay with the person they love.
> 
> It would be a shock imo if she did hear about this straight from them. To Victoria, she thinks that when Wren absorbs bones, it's more of a moral thing instead of trying to find/form your identity


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of My Love At First Sight, Your Gradual Love For Me. I don't know why the fic isn't updating the chapter, I've replaced the (?) with 5 multiple times and it's not working.

Victoria has no context to what she is seeing in front of her. It’s been three months since she found out about Wren’s secret. They have been living together for a little over half a year already and Wren asked her in her store that they have something to show her.

They made sure that Jules was not in earshot, the pesky teenager was helping a customer up front selecting a specific herb that increases circulation by applying the salve onto the outer skin when Wren arrived. They literally came into the back of the store to ask her if she isn’t busy to show her something in the woods. Victoria agreed and honestly, she wished she didn’t because what Wren showed her wasn’t something—like a new place they discovered—but someone.

Specifically, an orc with the clear insignia of Lathandra’s army despite it being scratched out. The orc is a bulky man with tusks wearing armor above the waist and shorts below it with a pair of sturdy boots. He is wearing gauntlets and has a great sword strapped across his back.

Wren was talking to the man away from her and yelled to her, telling her to come. 

After living for so long with the skeleton, Victoria knows that they do not yell. She thought nothing of it, thinking that they planned some sort of surprise, which the surprise is there, just not what she expected. 

The orc looks startled to even see her and Victoria raises her hand up and awkwardly says, “Hello. I see that Wren is our mutual friend.”

The orc tilts his head to the side, looks at Wren and looks back at Victoria. He says in a heavy accented voice, “Hello.”

He looks at the halfling and gives her a wry grin, and Victoria gives one back.

Wren is watching their exchange with rapt attention, they are visibly excited, their eyes glow and they are smiling. “Now introduce yourselves. I always wanted to facilitate a friendship.” Wren says this in Common and starts talking in a musical tone with some grunts intermingling with it. 

Victoria assumes that they are saying the same sentence they told to her to their friend. Once Wren stops talking and the orc is saying something to them, she coughs, getting everyone’s attention. She walks up to the orc and puts all her weight onto her toes then holds her hand up to shake his hand. “My name’s Victoria Applebees, I live in the cottage with Wren a few minutes away.”

“My name is Rog of the Obalash Clan.” Rog takes her hand and gently shakes it after accidentally pulling Victoria in the air by two inches.

“Whoa, nice to meet you Rog. Do you want me to get you some food? It must have been difficult traveling all the way here.”

Victoria contemplates how long Rog has been dodging cities and towns to get to Jenis. She assumes that Wren actually served with Rog in the war before they regained sentience to not be a mindless soldier. Maybe the two of them helped one another escape the battlefield and wanted to reunite. 

“I am fine, Vict-oria.” Rog says, butchering her name slightly, “Wren said you were generous.” 

What? Victoria doesn’t know what exactly Wren has been saying about her, but why would they say she was generous because she was offering food? Rog looks like a deserter who hates Ulthegarius. She’s fine with him.

“Thank you? You didn’t get attacked much while you were coming here.”

“Not often.”

“Rog knows a lot about trails, he managed to avoid all cities.” Wren states proudly and Rog puffs out his chest. 

“Wow that’s amazing Rog, you sure are a survivalist.” Victoria says, complimenting the orc.

“I am used to tracking prey for my clan. I was one of the best hunters.”

“That’s kind of how I met Rog, but you are staying safe right?” Wren says in common and switches to orcish as the two of them rapidly converse with one another.

Well that hypothesis is out the window. Victoria waits patiently before looking around the clearing to collect some plants, if she’s here waiting for Wren and Rog to stop conversing. 

“Here,” Victoria says as she presents the comfey she just collected to Rog. “This is useful for your cuts and burns. It works even if you mash it into paste.”

“Thank you. It will be useful,” Rog takes it and shoves them in his pocket.

Victoria suppresses a wince for the ruined flowers. She gives him a wry grin, “So Wren, I really like your friend. He’s very tall.”

“Everyone’s tall compared to you Victoria, but I wanted you two to meet. It’s just that you are smart Victoria, knowing a lot of the area. Rog needs help getting to his clan.”

No matter how much Wren flatters her, she doesn’t know the precise location of Rog, and she just met the guy. She doesn’t know why he needs to do this, and honestly, she never met an orc before. Then again, she never met a talking skeleton before Wren. “Where exactly do you need to go? I know there is a river nearby and about a day’s journey there is another river, you follow southward, you’ll see a large town. It’ll be two weeks to get to the border.”

Rog shakes his head, “I need help bringing my family here. They are housed near the town Yekenshaw which resides within Melony temporarily. I need the map to bring them here.”

Victoria nods thoughtfully. She’s not sure how accepting Jenis is during the war effort. Typically, when there are a few orcs that travel into town who are not part of the conflict, the elven populous would side eye them. No party gave the other trouble, then again, the orc travelers did not do business with them, given the tenuous history the elves have with the orcs.

“Did you already build some form of shelter for your clan?” Victoria inquires.

Rog shakes his head, “I plan on beginning that endeavor after this.” He brings out a map that looks pretty beaten up, there are some tears in the map and Victoria attempts to make heads or tails of it. 

Victoria drums her fingers against her thigh, and she can’t make heads or tails of the distance nor the labeled towns within Melony to see precisely where Yekenshaw is located. She has a map back in her home that isn’t in disrepair. “Are you willing to leave the forest and come into the cottage? I have a spare map that I can lend to you.”

Rog tilts his head upward, contemplating his response, before looking at her. “I can get nearer, but I can’t risk leaving the safety of the wood. Someone might spot me.”

“Alright.” Wren says, “Then Victoria and I will get the map.”

Victoria looks at Wren just offering their service to retrieve something minuscule. They might as well stay with his friend because she does not need help finding it. It’s in the drawer of her nightstand. She decides to not create a ruckus over a simple matter. “Yeah.”

Rog crouches down and gives the two of them a big hug, pulling them into the air and Victoria’s arms are squeezed to her body. She worries about Wren’s bones cracking under Rog’s great strength, but she doesn’t hear an ominous crack, just their clothed arm pressing against her own. She swears that she feels them squeezing her hand, but that would put Wren at an awkward position.

“I think you are crushing her Rog,” Wren says, mirth present in their voice.

Rog says something in his native tongue before switching to Common and setting them gently to the ground. “I did not mean to do that. It’s just that there isn’t much kindness present in the world.”

“That’s horrible.” Victoria replies, knowing that it’s true. 

Those closer to the borders or are residing within zones of conflict understand there isn’t much kindness nor gratitude left around. Lest of all between other races other than their own communities.

The three of them make it to the tree line where the wood ends and the backyard of her cottage. Rog stays behind while Wren walks closely besides her, occasionally bumping into her, as the two of them go inside to retrieve the map. Wren opens the door for her and she scurries inside into her room.

The skeleton follows her and she rummages around in the drawer of her nightstand, trying to find the folded map under other pieces of paper, notebooks, and some trinkets she’s collected over the years.

“Thank you for being understanding about Rog, he’s a great man who was conscripted into the war by force.” They say as Victoria finally finds the map along with a world map.

She opens them up to see that the quality is decent. The ink on the maps are a bit faded, but it is legible. “That’s horrible, but you have a good sense of character.”

“I just want to say I was worried that you would kick me out. I didn’t want to say anything because I love what we have between us” Wren says and Victoria turns to them. They are staring at her with a soft expression that she can’t quite make out what it is.

There is a faint smile—even though Wren takes to covering up with his cloak, they have shed their scarf when going outdoors near their home—with a hint of sadness. She’s been seeing that a lot lately when she looks at them after being wrapped up with a small project.

Victoria assumes that Wren has been struggling with telling her about Rog for roughly two months. It was a few weeks after she accepted and grew comfortable with rooming with a sentient skeleton. 

“Well Rog isn’t that frightening after you get past his size. Seems like a sweetheart caring for his family. I hope he hasn’t been roughing it out too badly.” Victoria says as the two of them leave her room and walk toward the front door.

“He is. The man has been alone for some time until recently and that’s what’s causing him to worry.” Wren says as the two transverse to the woods where Rog is waiting.

“That was fast,” Rog comments as Victoria hands him the world map as she opens the map of Melony for him. 

She points at Jenis and traces her finger to the aforementioned river and what direction Rog will go to get to the city to make it to the border. “So, there are some mountains toward the south, but it shouldn’t be too much trouble. You just need to travel around them instead of through them and you’ll safely make it out of Melony to get to your clan since Yekenshaw is right on the border.” 

“Excellent, I can’t thank you enough. Is it fine for me to keep this?” Victoria nods and Rog smiles at her. “Great, I’ll head out once I finish constructing the last few huts and tents. Your assistance is greatly appreciated Vict-oria.”

She just rubs the back of her head and prays that none of her fellow townsmen find the encampment that Rog is constructing. 

Rog asks if she would like to come visit his camp. Victoria said that she couldn’t, she had plenty of work to do. Besides collecting herbs, she has to finish up writing some common medicinal brews and tips for constructing his own. He is going to travel to the capital in a week to take his apothecary examination.

With that Rog departs with Wren, the skeleton no doubt helping out their friend. It is probably the place that they have been spending their free time before she comes home to eat the simple dinner that Wren whipped up for her. Hours pass and it’s starting to get dark. Wren isn’t even home yet and she’s starting to worry. She completed the last of Jules book that she’ll gift to him tomorrow so he can read through it before he heads on the road. 

The door finally opens, and Victoria pops her head out of the kitchen to see that Wren did enter. She sighs in relief, clutching the knife in her hand that she was using when she was cutting the lettuce for supper. Looks like she doesn’t have to defend herself tonight. “Oh, thank the gods you are safe,” she says fretting over them.

Wren chuckles, “It’s not like I’m going to get lost. Sorry for making you worry about me.” They say as they walk up to her and leans down, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Victoria drops her knife in surprise and her mouth opens. 

What just happened?

Was this the reason for the soft looks over the weeks?

Did Wren really have feelings for her?

“Shit I’m sorry Victoria,” Wren stutters out, trying to placate her.

How can they placate her when she isn’t even angry?

She’s silent for a moment. “Is that why you were looking at me like that? You love me?”

Wren is quiet for a moment. “Yes. I didn’t know how to say it and I know this is bad timing. With the whole reveal of Rog, and you are in the middle of preparing for Jules ex-”

“Shush, it’s fine Wren. You took me off guard.” Victoria says as she rubs her forehead where she felt Wren’s teeth click against her skin. “It was…nice.”

“You hate it. I can jus-”

“If you suggest you will leave one more time, I will literally throw you out! Goodness Wren just go sit down.”

Wren heads to the loveseat and sits down, looking down at his hands. 

“Now Wren what you did surprised me,” Victoria starts and she sits down besides them on the couch. “But it was a good surprise.” She wraps her hand around their arm and leans into them. Wren stiffens and looks at her with wide eyes. “I wouldn’t mind it. I like what we have really. The soft touches, the closeness. I like us, but can you take it slow?”

“Of course,” they say like they are out of breath.

“Good.”

“What do we do now?”

“Now? Dinner and then we drink tea while cuddling.”

“That sounds nice.”

Victoria chuckles, “Of course it does. I’m spending time with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this work! I've been working on this gift fic for a few months and honestly I was stumped at some points trying to elongate them. Writers block is difficult to deal with. I really like how this turned out, it is a lot longer than I thought it would be, max 5k, and I hope everyone like some of the world building in this love story.


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